Thursday, April 30, 2009

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

If your faith was strong enough would you learn about other religious traditions? Or, since you have the truth, are other religions meaningless and therefore a waste of time to learn anything from them?

This depends entirely on the strength of your faith and your level of religious superiority. If your faith is not strong enough there is the fear that you might be swayed by wrong belief. Or if your faith is strong your level of religious superiority might be low enough to consider that other faiths might also carry gems of wisdom. Either way, if you're spiritually weak then you have plenty of reasons to be afraid of the big bad wolf.

[Wepwawet, Opener of the Way, clears routes for the army to proceed and assists at "the Opening of the mouth ceremony and guides the deceased into the netherworld." Often confused with Anubis.]


I believe a persons certitude of beliefs to be the biggest stumbling block that keeps someone from considering reading on other religious traditions let alone validate them as equals. Christians, more so than any other group, wrestle with this concept to the point that it hinders any kind of inter-faith dialogue. There are inter-faith Christian organizations, but Christianity has always had a problem with other religions. If they were considered equal to Christianity then Christ's resurrection is not important anymore because there are other valid paths to the divine. Most Christians wouldn't agree with this so other religions have to be false which will then elevate the Christian faith above a sea of heresy.

[Note:For the record I'm not an anti-Christian but I do pick on it because I'm more familiar with it then any other faith and I believe it is healthy to take a critical look at one's own faith.]

Fear is what keeps us from even looking at a book about another faith. Fear of being incorrect, fear of losing our way, fear of a wasted life, fear of insecurity. Faith is our foundational support that billions rely on in times of trouble. We fear losing security. Secure with the knowledge that our loved ones are smiling down at us from heaven, secure that death is not the end, and secure that we will never be alone even in our darkest times. So some of us shut the windows and lock the doors and barricade ourselves inside our faith fortress. Members of other faiths knock on our door (usually Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses) and we tell them to get off our property.

There is no love in fear.

Not all Christians are afraid of other faiths. Many reach out to other faith communities to teach and learn from each other. Their faith is strong and humble enough to truly love their fellow man. To me this is the heart of a true Christian, strong and humble in faith. The Big Bad Wolf they once feared is now a puppy to be loved and cherished. People of other faiths don't see them as Christians filled with fear but with love.

Infinite love that radiates infinitely!

For Christians, others see Christ in you by the waves of love emanating from your soul. It intoxicates and illuminates the soul spreading like a virus. Like a lighthouse people will be drawn to this love emanating from you and they will ask, "what is this love I see in you?" And then you will respond, "let me tell you the story of a man named Jesus."

So I encourage everyone to go out and learn about another Religion, any religion, so that we may begin talking to one another without fear.
Here's a few to get you started. Learn, talk, grow, love.

Hinduism
Buddhism
Islam
Baha'i
Southern Baptist
Shinto
Judaism
Protestantism
Catholic
Taoism
Nestorianism?

1 comment:

Don Rogers said...

I was for 59 years that Christian of which you spoke here. I have opened my mind to all views to glean from them the valuable gems. I am enjoying catching up on your posts

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